An Unexpected Visit
by Icy.Myth
Summary: 10 Years before the Lightning Thief during the Winter Solstice six demigods suddenly find themselves on Olympus. Join as they all read about Percy's life from the first book to the last. Leo, Piper, Jason, Annabeth, Thalia, and Nico. Eventually Percy and others will join. Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

**Yeah, Yeah, update other stuff I know. But I wanna write this. So enjoy!**

The Winter Solstice. The one time of the year where all of the gods and goddess-all of them, including Hades- gathered on Mount Olympus to, well, argue. About everything and nothing, as usual.

"_Mother Rhea liked me the best!"_

"_No she liked me the best!"_

"_Obviously she liked me the best, she saved me from Father!"_

"_Olive trees are much better!"_

"_They're trees! What good comes from them?"_

"_Stay away from my wife!"_

"_Maybe you should keep better care of her then!"_

"_Hey Sis wanna hear the-"_

"_No! And don't call me Sis!"_

Suddenly a group of demigods tumbled from the sky, screaming until they all landed on the marble floor of Olympus. There were six of them and the gods and goddess all immediately drew their weapons and pointed them at the demigods. They didn't relax until they confirmed that they were, I fact, just mere demigods and not monsters. No sooner than the groaning demigods get to their feet did one of the six, a boy with pale skin and dark hair, raise his fist at the ceiling and yell, "What was that for Apollo?! What in Hades did you-" he cut off when someone nudged him, a goth looking girl with choppy black hair and a Hunters bow slung across her back. She pointed at the gods and the boys gaze fell on them. "Oh."

He gulped then immediately knelt, the others following him. He raised his gaze onto Apollo as he stood back up, glaring. "Really Apollo? One minute you're lecturing us and the next you fling us down into Olympus?"

Apollo frowned at the boy. "What are you talking about? I don't even know who any of you are." A flash of light appeared above them and tumbling down came five books, along with a 'Sorry' that definitely sounded like Apollo.

The boy glared at Apollo, rubbing his head like it hurt, and picked up the books. Taped to the front of one of them was a note. The boy frowned and read it out loud.

**Dearest Family:**

**Hey yo! So these demigods have come to the past to read about our favorite *thunder* some people's favorite demigod. This was all Zeus' idea (Actually it was Athena's) so, please don't blast them to bits because it could disrupt the timeline and everything will be destroyed and all that jazz. So no harm to them, and read the book! Demigods, introduce yourself, full title and everything. After all this is over, the gods will forget all of this until the events pass. Peace out!**

**The most awesome god of all, **

**Apollo**

**P.S. There may be other demigods**

**P.P.S There may be other books too.**

**P.P.P.S Sorry about the fall**

Zeus frowned slightly as he stared at the six demigods, lowering his bolt reluctantly and looking disappointed that he couldn't blast them all to bits. "Well, I suppose since I approved… whatever this is, then we won't kill you."

"Father, since Apollo said it was my idea, then it must have a reason behind it." Athena stated, resting her calculating eyes on the six demigods. "I wouldn't give such an idea unless it was needed."

A Latino boy with curly black hair and elfish features glared at Athena. He wore a white shirt covered in grease stains and some places were burnt along with suspenders on his jeans. "It better be needed!" He took a step forward and a young girl with choppy brown hair had to hold him back. "I'm in the middle of trying to build the Argo II and then all of the sudden I wind up here! I don't have time for this!" He was still glaring and breathing heavy as the girl whispered urgently into his ear and he slowly seemed to calm down, though he didn't stop glaring at Athena.

Athena narrowed her eyes, but decided it would be wise to hold her tongue, something she didn't do often. "Enough of this!" Zeus scowled. "Introduce yourselves, demigods, so we can get started.

The boy who was yelling previously stepped forward and raised his chin. "Leo Valdez. Son of Hephaestus. Fire user," At this the gods gasped and looked at Hephaestus. There hasn't been a fire user for decades! He just shrugged though, and smiled down at Leo as the boy continued. "Supreme Admiral of the Argo II, and one of the seven."

The girl who had held him back then stepped up, her hand nervously positioned over the hilt of her knife she kept strapped to her belt. "Piper McLean. Daughter of Aphrodite, charm speaker, one of the seven."

The pale Italian boy who yelled at Apollo stepped forward. "Nico di Angelo. Son of Hades, Ghost King." **(A/N They already know about Thalia and Nico) **

Nico stepped aside when Thalia walked up, and she smiled at Artemis. "Thalia Grace. Daughter of Zeus, Hunter and Lieutenant of Artemis."

Artemis frowned slightly. "What? What happened to Zoe?" She was growing slightly concerned about her present lieutenant.

Thalia just looked at her sadly before a girl with curly blond hair and sharp grey eyes took her place. "Annabeth Chase. Daughter of Athena, Architect of Olympus, one of the seven."

"Architect of Olympus?" Athena asked, confused as to why Olympus would need an architect. But, she also couldn't help the swell of pride at finding out what her daughter has accomplished.

Annabeth shook her head. "I can't tell you right now." She said softly, and her gaze flicked over to Poseidon. Grief and sorrow flashed over her eyes at the sight of him but it was gone as quickly as it came and a boy with blond hair and blue eyes stepped up next, an air of confidence around him. "My name is Jason Grace. Son of Jupiter, Praetor of Camp Jupiter, and one of the seven."

The gods and goddess gasped as they flickered between their Greek and Roman forms, murmurs coming from all of them. "What is a Roman doing here?" "They are supposed to be kept separate?" "Zeus what is going on?"

"Stop!" Zeus bellowed as he finally settled in his Greek form, seeing as how there are more Greeks than Romans in the room. The rest soon followed suit and Zeus took a deep breath, waving at the books. "Now. I don't know what is going on, but hopefully if we read these books we will find out."

Annabeth hesitated before she sat down and grabbed the books, and the other demigods sat around her. She picked up the first one and stifled a gasp, swallowing a lump in her throat. "It's called Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief." Her voice wavered slightly when she said his name. Thalia squeezed her shoulder lightly and Annabeth gave her a weak smile before she opened the book and began reading.

**Hope you guys enjoy! Reviews always welcome :P**


	2. I Accidently Vaporize My Teacher

**Alright everyone! Enjoy!**

"**I Accidentally Vaporize my Pre-Algebra Teacher**," Annabeth read.

"Are all of the chapters going to be named like this?" Leo asked.

Annabeth smirked slightly. "Knowing Percy, probably."

Leo grinned at this. "Sweet."

**Look, I didn't want to be a half-blood.**

"No one does." Thalia muttered and all the demigods nodded in agreement, causing the others to frown. Did all of their children feel like that?

**If you're reading this because you think you might be one, my advice is:**

"Don't listen to it!" Nico exclaimed, eyes wide. "Percy gives the worst advice ever!"

**Close this book right now. Believe whatever lies your mom or dad told you about your birth, and try to lead a normal life. Being a half-blood is dangerous. It's scary. Most of the time, it gets you killed in painful, nasty ways. **

All of the demigods nodded in agreement, murmuring to themselves before Annabeth shushed them and kept reading.

**If you're a normal kid, reading this because you think it's fiction, great. Read on. I envy you for being able to believe that none of this ever happened. But if you recognize yourself in these pages—if you feel something stirring inside—stop reading immediately. You might be one of us. And once you know that, it's only a matter of time before they sense it too, and they'll come for you.**

"Huh." Nico blinked, slightly sheepish. "That uh actually isn't bad advice."

**Don't say I didn't warn you.**

**My name is Percy Jackson.**

Annabeth's voice wavered slightly. Her fears were confirmed. She was almost completely sure the book was about her Seaweed Brain before, but now the book confirmed it. She swallowed before she continued reading.

**I'm twelve years old. Until a few months ago, I was a boarding student at Yancy Academy, a private school for troubled kids in upstate New York.**

**Am I a troubled kid?**

"Yes!" Annabeth, Thalia, and Nico answered immediately, while the other three demigods stared at them. "Is he really that bad?" Jason asked, raising an eyebrow.

**Yeah. You could say that.**

Thalia smirked at Jason. "He just admitted it. Yeah, it is that bad."

**I could start at any point in my short miserable life to prove it, but things really started going bad last May, when our sixth-grade class took a field trip to Manhattan— twenty-eight mental-case kids and two teachers on a yellow school bus, heading to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to look at ancient Greek and Roman stuff.**

"Interesting…" Athena mused at the same time Annabeth grinned with excitement. "That sounds like fun."

**I know—it sounds like torture.**

Annabeth and Athena frowned at that and huffed simultaneously.

Apollo smirked. "Like mother like daughter."

**Most Yancy field trips were.**

**Mr. Brunner was this middle-aged guy in a motorized wheelchair. He had thinning hair and a scruffy beard and a frayed tweed jacket, which always smelled like coffee. You wouldn't think he'd be cool, but he told stories and jokes and let us play games in class. He also had this awesome collection of Roman armor and weapons, so he was the only teacher whose class didn't put me to sleep.**

Thalia frowned and looked up at Dionysus. "Is that Chiron?"

Dionysus waved his hand, obviously bored and a Diet Coke appeared. "Yes, yes, that's Chiron." He said wearily, as if he really didn't want to be here which was probably true.

**I hoped the trip would be okay. At least, I hoped that for once I wouldn't get in trouble.**

Annabeth snorted. "Right. Trouble is attracted to him like a moth to a flame.

**Boy, was I wrong. **

"See! He admits it!" Annabeth pointed out to no one in particular.

**Bad things happen to me on field trips. Like at my fifth-grade school, when we went to the Saratoga battlefield, I had this accident with a Revolutionary War cannon. I wasn't aiming for the school bus, but of course I got expelled anyway.**

Hermes, Apollo, and Leo immediately burst out laughing. "I love this kid!"

**And before that, at my fourth-grade school, when we took a behind-the-scenes tour of the Marine World shark pool, I sort of hit the wrong lever on the catwalk and our class took an unplanned swim. **

By this point Leo was rolling around laughing on the floor, and Hermes and Apollo were about about join him

**And the time before that... Well, you get the idea.**

"Aw." Apollo pouted and whined. "I wanted to hear more!"

"If you don't stop whining I'll give you something to whine about." Artemis threatened then muttered under her breath. "Boys."

**This trip, I was determined to be good.**

Hermes frowned. "Well where's the fun in that?"

**All the way into the city, I put up with Nancy Bobofit, the freckly, redheaded kleptomaniac girl, hitting my best friend Grover in the back of the head with chunks of peanut butter-and-ketchup sandwich. **

Thalia grimaced. "This isn't going to end well…"

"Why not?" Piper questioned, eyeing the book in Annabeth's hands.

"Because Percy gets scary protective of his friends." Nico answered, remembering how horrible Percy looked when he told Nico he failed him.

**Grover was an easy target. He was scrawny. He cried when he got frustrated. **

"Way to go Grover." Annabeth said dryly.

**He must've been held back several grades, because he was the only sixth grader with acne and the start of a wispy beard on his chin. On top of all that, he was crippled. **

Thalia snickered. "Grover's going to love how Percy described him."

**He had a note excusing him from PE for the rest of his life because he had some kind of muscular disease in his legs. He walked funny, like every step hurt him, but don't let that fool you. You should've seen him run when it was enchilada day in the cafeteria.**

Thalia rolled her eyes. "Wow. Way to not give anything away." Though she couldn't help but be slightly amused. Only Grover would act like that because it was enchilada day.

**Anyway, Nancy Bobofit was throwing wads of sandwich that stuck in his curly brown hair, and she knew I couldn't do anything back to her because I was already on probation. The headmaster had threatened me with death **

"WHAT?!" Poseidon bellowed, eyes full of rage.

**by in-school suspension **

Poseidon immediately calmed down and grinned sheepishly. "Oh."

The other gods gave him weird looks, wondering why he even cared but they shrugged it off as Annabeth continued reading.

**if anything bad, embarrassing, or even mildly entertaining happened on this trip.**

"Aw well that's not fair." Hermes whined. "Then what's the point in going?"

**Grover tried to calm me down. "It's okay. I like peanut butter." He dodged another piece of Nancy's lunch. "That's it." **

"Fight?" Ares perked up, looking hopeful. He's been pretty uninterested in the book up until now.

**I started to get up, but Grover pulled me back to my seat. "You're already on probation," he reminded me. "You know who'll get blamed if anything happens." **

Ares grumbled and went back to sharpening his sword, disappointed there wouldn't be any fighting.

**Looking back on it, I wish I'd decked Nancy Bobofit right then and there. In-school suspension would've been nothing compared to the mess I was about to get myself into.**

Nico groaned. "Great, what'd he do this time?"

**Mr. Brunner led the museum tour.**

**He rode up front in his wheelchair, guiding us through the big echoey galleries, past marble statues and glass cases full of really old black-and-orange pottery.**

**It blew my mind that this stuff had survived for two thousand, three thousand years.**

"Longer." All of the gods and goddess said in unsion, even Aphrodite who was not really paying attention, filing away at her already perfect nails.

**He gathered us around a thirteen-foot-tall stone column with a big sphinx on the top, and started telling us how it was a grave marker, a stele, for a girl about our age. He told us about the carvings on the sides. I was trying to listen to what he had to say, because it was kind of interesting, but everybody around me was talking, and every time I told them to shut up, the other teacher chaperone, Mrs. Dodds, would give me the evil eye.**

"For trying to listen to the teacher?" Athena asked, appalled.

**Mrs. Dodds was this little math teacher from Georgia who always wore a black leather jacket, even though she was fifty years old. She looked mean enough to ride a Harley right into your locker. She had come to Yancy halfway through the year, when our last math teacher had a nervous breakdown.**

"Nervous breakdown." Jason repeated. "Right…"

**From her first day, Mrs. Dodds loved Nancy Bobofit and figured I was devil spawn. She would point her crooked finger at me and say, "Now, honey," real sweet, and I knew I was going to get after-school detention for a month.**

Nico frowned slightly. Something about her seemed familiar, and not in a good way.

**One time, after she'd made me erase answers out of old math workbooks until midnight, I told Grover I didn't think Mrs. Dodds was human. He looked at me, real serious, and said, "You're absolutely right." Mr. Brunner kept talking about Greek funeral art.**

"Monster?" Piper wondered, but no one answered her.

**Finally, Nancy Bobofit snickered something about the naked guy on the stele, and I turned around and said, "Will you shut up?"**

**It came out louder than I meant it to.**

"Of course it did…" Annabeth sighed in exasperation.

**The whole group laughed. Mr. Brunner stopped his story.**

**"Mr. Jackson," he said, "did you have a comment?"**

**My face was totally red. I said, "No, sir."**

Leo snickered. "Caught by the teacher."

**Mr. Brunner pointed to one of the pictures on the stele. "Perhaps you'll tell us what this picture represents?**

**I looked at the carving, and felt a flush of relief, because I actually recognized it. "That's Kronos eating his kids, right?"**

The gods paled and Poseidon grimaced. "Why that one… There are hundreds of other carvings that have nothing to do with that."

**"Yes," Mr. Brunner said, obviously not satisfied.**

**"And he did this because ..."**

**"Well..." I racked my brain to remember. "Kronos was the king god,**

"GOD?" Zeus roared, eyes flashing with anger.

**and—"**

**"God?" Mr. Brunner asked.**

**"Titan," I corrected myself.**

Zeus nodded, seemingly satisfied. "Better."

**"And ... he didn't trust his kids, who were the gods. So, um, Kronos ate them, right? But his wife hid baby Zeus, and gave Kronos a rock to eat instead.**

"So…" Hades drawled out. "Since that worked, does that mean Father is stupid, or does it mean that Zeus looks like a rock?" Everyone laughed while Zeus glared at his brother.

**And later, when Zeus grew up, he tricked his dad, Kronos, into barfing up his brothers and sisters—"**

**"Eeew!" said one of the girls behind me.**

"Yeah. Ew is the correct term to describe it." Hestia agreed, who had been quietly tending to her fire before then.

**"—and so there was this big fight between the gods and the Titans," I continued, "and the gods won."**

"He just summed up the biggest War in history in a few sentances." Jason stated.

Annabeth shrugged. ""That's Percy for you." A wave of sadness crashed over her and Aphrodite jerked her head up, her gaze landing on the demigods. She felt love flow from one of them… Who was it. She put away her nail file, determined to figure out who it was.

**Some snickers from the group. Behind me, Nancy Bobofit mumbled to a friend, "Like we're going to use this in real life. Like it's going to say on our job applications, 'Please explain why Kronos ate his kids.'"**

**"And why, Mr. Jackson," Brunner said, "to paraphrase Miss Bobofit's excellent question, does this matter in real life?"**

"Busted." Nico smirked.

**"Busted," Grover muttered.**

Nico paled and his hands flew to his head. "Oh no! I think like a goat!"

**"Shut up," Nancy hissed her face even brighter red than her hair.**

A few of the demigods cringed from that image. "Well that's attractive." Leo stated, his words heavy with sarcasm.

**At least Nancy got packed, too. Mr. Brunner was the only one who ever caught her saying anything wrong. He had radar ears. I thought about his question, and shrugged. "I don't know, sir."**

"He does now." Thalia murmured quietly.

**"I see." Mr. Brunner looked disappointed. "Well, half credit, Mr. Jackson. Zeus did indeed feed Kronos a mixture of mustard and wine, which made him disgorge his other five children, who, of course, being immortal gods, had been living and growing up completely undigested in the Titan's stomach. The gods defeated their father, sliced him to pieces with his own scythe, and scattered his remains in Tartarus, the darkest part of the Underworld. On that happy note, it's time for lunch. Mrs. Dodds, would you lead us back outside?"**

"Smooth Chiron. Real smooth." Leo snorted.

**The class drifted off, the girls holding their stomachs, the guys pushing each other around and acting like doofuses.**

"That's because they are." Artemis muttered and punched Apollo who was trying to lick his elbow.

**Grover and I were about to follow when Mr. Brunner said, "Mr. Jackson."**

**I knew that was coming.**

**I told Grover to keep going. Then I turned toward Mr. Brunner. "Sir?"**

**Mr. Brunner had this look that wouldn't let you go— intense brown eyes that could've been a thousand years old and had seen everything.**

"He has seen a lot, close to everything but not quite." Athena stated.

**"You must learn the answer to my question," Mr. Brunner told me.**

**"About the Titans?"**

**"About real life. And how your studies apply to it."**

**"Oh."**

"And that ladies and gentlemen pretty much sums up Percy Jackson." Thalia announced dramatically.

**"What you learn from me," he said, "is vitally important. I expect you to treat it as such. I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson."**

**I wanted to get angry, this guy pushed me so hard.**

He has to Seaweed Brain, Annabeth thought sadly.

Aphrodite perked up and studied the demigods. There it was again!

**I mean, sure, it was kind of cool on tournament days, when he dressed up in a suit of Roman armor and shouted: "What ho!'" and challenged us, sword-point against chalk, to run to the board and name every Greek and Roman person who had ever lived, and their mother, and what god they worshipped.**

"Sounds like a lot of fun." Athena agreed while Leo looked like he wanted to die just at the thought of doing that.

**But Mr. Brunner expected me to be as good as everybody else, despite the fact that I have dyslexia and attention deficit disorder and I had never made above a C— in my life. No—he didn't expect me to be as good; he expected me to be better. And I just couldn't learn all those names and facts, much less spell them correctly. I mumbled something about trying harder, while Mr. Brunner took one long sad look at the stele, like he'd been at this girl's funeral.**

"He probably was." Dionysus said boredly, taking a sip from his Diet Coke.

**He told me to go outside and eat my lunch.**

**The class gathered on the front steps of the museum, where we could watch the foot traffic along Fifth Avenue.**

**Overhead, a huge storm was brewing, with clouds blacker than I'd ever seen over the city. I figured maybe it was global warming or something, because the weather all across New York State had been weird since Christmas.**

Everyone's gaze shot towards Poseidon and Zeus but nobody said anything, not yet.

**We'd had massive snow storms, flooding, wildfires from lightning strikes. I wouldn't have been surprised if this was a hurricane blowing in.**

"Okay what are you two fighting about this time?" Athena demanded, her calculating grey eyes narrowed at the two of them.

Poseidon grumbled. "It's probably his fault."

**Nobody else seemed to notice. Some of the guys were pelting pigeons with Lunchables crackers. Nancy Bobofit was trying to pickpocket something from a lady's purse, and, of course, Mrs. Dodds wasn't seeing a thing.**

Demeter shot a questioning glance at Hermes. "One of yours?" The look she got in return showed offense that she would even think that… thing was his child.

**Grover and I sat on the edge of the fountain, away from the others. We thought that maybe if we did that, everybody wouldn't know we were from that school—the school for loser freaks who couldn't make it elsewhere.**

"Well he is a loser but not much of a freak." Thalia agreed, and frowned at the glare Annabeth gave her. "Hey! I said he wasn't much of a freak."

**"Detention?" Grover asked.**

**"Nah," I said. "Not from Brunner. I just wish he'd lay off me sometimes. I mean—I'm not a genius."**

Annabeth snorted. "That's an understatement."

**Grover didn't say anything for a while. Then, when I thought he was going to give me some deep philosophical comment to make me feel better, he said, "Can I have your apple?"**

Everyone bursts out laughing and even Hades and Zeus manage to chuckle a little.

**I didn't have much of an appetite, so I let him take it.**

**I watched the stream of cabs going down Fifth Avenue, and thought about my mom's apartment, only a little ways uptown from where we sat. I hadn't seen her since Christmas. I wanted so bad to jump in a taxi and head home.**

"What a wimp." Ares muttered.

Hera glared at him. "At least the boy cares for his mother." She said pointedly.

**She'd hug me and be glad to see me, but she'd be disappointed, too. She'd send me right back to Yancy, remind me that I had to try harder, even if this was my sixth school in six years and I was probably going to be kicked out again. I wouldn't be able to stand that sad look she'd give me.**

Everyone who had met Sally before smiled slightly, knowing that is exactly what Sally would do.

**Mr. Brunner parked his wheelchair at the base of the handicapped ramp. He ate celery while he read a paperback novel. A red umbrella stuck up from the back of his chair, making it look like a motorized cafe table.**

"Oh my gods!" Leo jumped to his feet, eyes filled with excitement. "I am so making one of those!" He finally sat back down after Piper pulled him down and motioned for Annabeth to keep reading.

**I was about to unwrap my sandwich when Nancy Bobofit appeared in front of me with her ugly friends—I guess she'd gotten tired of stealing from the tourists—and dumped her half-eaten lunch in Grover's lap.**

**"Oops." She grinned at me with her crooked teeth. Her freckles were orange, as if somebody had spray-painted her face with liquid Cheetos.**

Everyone grimaced at that beautiful image. (Note the sarcasm.

**I tried to stay cool. The school counselor had told me a million times, "Count to ten, get control of your temper." But I was so mad my mind went blank. A wave roared in my ears.**

"POSEIDON!" Zeus and Hades yelled, the entire throne room shaking.

"You broke the oath!" Zeus roared at his brother.

"As did you brother," Poseidon said calmly. "Twice, if I recall." He gave a pointed look at Jason and Thalia.

Zeus scowled and pointed in the middle of the room. There was a flash of lightning and as the smoke faded. There was a small baby sitting on the ground with a blue blanket and his thumb in his mouth.

"Zeus, what are you doing? Why is there a baby here?" Demeter questioned, her gaze confused.

The small boy couldn't have been older than three. He had black hair that was sticking up everywhere and pajama footsies that had little fish, turtles, and bubbles all over it. His sea-green eyes stared up at Zeus.

"Percy," Poseidon breathed, standing up from his throne. He was just as perfect as the last time he had visited.

Zeus scowled, his anger was visible he was so frious. "Yes. And I will make sure that these events never happen." Lightning shot from him hand and the demigods could only watch in horror and Annabeth jumped to her feet. "No!" she screamed, tears in her eyes.

Poseidon roared and ran to Percy, thrusting out his trident. The lightning was absorbed into the Trident and Poseidon seethed, standing in front of Percy. "If you ever try to hurt him again," Poseidon began, his voice low and dangerous. "You will have war."

Zeus got to his feet, energy crackling off of him. "Are you defying your King?"

Annabeth rushed forward and stood next to Poseidon before he could say anything. "You can't! Apollo gave specific instructions saying you can't do anything to mess up the timeline!"

"My daughter is right." Athena nodded. "Killing the boy would be unwise. Best wait and see if he dies by your hand in the book."

A few sent her glares but she just shrugged. She was only stating the facts.

Zeus continued glaring at Poseidon before he sat back down. "Fine. The child," he sneered. "Won't die. For now."

Poseidon let out a breath of relief and turned to Percy, who had started to cry from all the loud noises. He careful picked him up and sat back down on his Throne. "Hey Percy." He shushed, rocking the boy gently. Slowly, Percy's cries turned into sniffles and then he was asleep in his dad's arms, his mouth open and drooling.

Poseidon chuckled and motioned for Annabeth to continue reading.

**I don't remember touching her, but the next thing I knew, Nancy was sitting on her butt in the fountain, screaming, "Percy pushed me!"**

**Mrs. Dodds materialized next to us.**

**Some of the kids were whispering: "Did you see—"**

**"—the water—"**

**"—like it grabbed her—"**

"Definitely Poseidon's son." Apollo agreed, sneaking a glance at Percy, who had stuck his thumb in his mouth in his sleep.

**I didn't know what they were talking about. All I knew was that I was in trouble again.**

**As soon as Mrs. Dodds was sure poor little Nancy was okay, promising to get her a new shirt at the museum gift shop, etc., etc., Mrs. Dodds turned on me. There was a triumphant fire in her eyes, as if I'd done something she'd been waiting for all semester. "Now, honey—"**

**"I know," I grumbled. "A month erasing workbooks."**

"Never guess your punishment!" Hermes yelled.

**That wasn't the right thing to say.**

**"Come with me," Mrs. Dodds said.**

Hermes smirked. "See?"

**"Wait!" Grover yelped. "It was me. I pushed her."**

**I stared at him, stunned. I couldn't believe he was trying to cover for me. Mrs. Dodds scared Grover to death.**

**She glared at him so hard his whiskery chin trembled.**

Leo grinned. "I gotta get him to do that."

**"I don't think so, Mr. Underwood," she said.**

**"But—"**

**"You—will—stay—here."**

**Grover looked at me desperately.**

**"It's okay, man," I told him. "Thanks for trying."**

**"Honey," Mrs. Dodds barked at me. "Now."**

**Nancy Bobofit smirked.**

**I gave her my deluxe I'll-kill-you-later stare.**

Nico shuddered. "You do not want to be on the receiving end of that."

**Then I turned to face Mrs. Dodds, but she wasn't there. She was standing at the museum entrance, way at the top of the steps, gesturing impatiently at me to come on.**

**How'd she get there so fast?**

Piper paled. "Okay yeah that is definitely a monster."

**I have moments like that a lot, when my brain falls asleep or something, and the next thing I know I've missed something, as if a puzzle piece fell out of the universe and left me staring at the blank place behind it. The school counselor told me this was part of the ADHD, my brain misinterpreting things.**

**I wasn't so sure.**

**I went after Mrs. Dodds.**

**Halfway up the steps, I glanced back at Grover. He was looking pale, cutting his eyes between me and Mr. Brunner, like he wanted Mr. Brunner to notice what was going on, but Mr. Brunner was absorbed in his novel.**

Thalia sighed and shook her head. 'Chiron and his books…"

**I looked back up. Mrs. Dodds had disappeared again. She was now inside the building, at the end of the entrance hall.**

**Okay, I thought. She's going to make me buy a new shirt for Nancy at the gift shop.**

**But apparently that wasn't the plan.**

"Of course it wasn't Seaweed Brain." Annabeth muttered under her breath.

**I followed her deeper into the museum. When I finally caught up to her, we were back in the Greek and Roman section.**

**Except for us, the gallery was empty.**

**Mrs. Dodds stood with her arms crossed in front of a big marble frieze of the Greek gods. She was making this weird noise in her throat, like growling.**

Jason frowned. "Monster, but what kind of monster?"

**Even without the noise, I would've been nervous. It's weird being alone with a teacher, especially Mrs. Dodds. Something about the way she looked at the frieze, as if she wanted to pulverize it...**

**"You've been giving us problems, honey," she said.**

**I did the safe thing. I said, "Yes, ma'am."**

Nico gasped, eyes wide. "Percy is being polite?"

**She tugged on the cuffs of her leather jacket. "Did you really think you would get away with it?"**

**The look in her eyes was beyond mad. It was evil.**

Everyone shifted uneasily, hoping that someone would do something before the monster attacked.

**She's a teacher, I thought nervously. It's not like she's going to hurt me.**

**I said, "I'll—I'll try harder, ma'am."**

**Thunder shook the building.**

Everyone's gaze flickered to Zeus but he just shrugged and resumed glaring at Poseidon.

**"We are not fools, Percy Jackson," Mrs. Dodds said. "It was only a matter of time before we found you out. Confess, and you will suffer less pain."**

**I didn't know what she was talking about.**

**All I could think of was that the teachers must've found the illegal stash of candy I'd been selling out of my dorm room.**

Hermes snickered. "This guy is a riot!"

**Or maybe they'd realized I got my essay on Tom Sawyer from the Internet without ever reading the book and now they were going to take away my grade. Or worse, they were going to make me read the book.**

Annabeth frowned. "Hey! That is one of my favorite books!"

**"Well?" she demanded.**

**"Ma'am, I don't..."**

**"Your time is up," she hissed.**

**Then the weirdest thing happened. Her eyes began to glow like barbecue coals. Her fingers stretched, turning into talons. Her jacket melted into large, leathery wings. She wasn't human. She was a shriveled hag with bat wings and claws and a mouth full of yellow fangs, and she was about to slice me to ribbons.**

Poseidon's eyes widened and he glared at Hades. "You sent a Fury after my son?" he shouted, and then Percy proceeded to cry. Poseidon promptly forgot, for now, as he quickly got Percy to settle down. Annabeth took the chance and continued to read.

**Then things got even stranger.**

**Mr. Brunner, who'd been out in front of the museum a minute before, wheeled his chair into the doorway of the gallery, holding a pen in his hand.**

Jason blinked. "A pen? How is that going to help?"

**"What ho, Percy!" he shouted, and tossed the pen through the air.**

**Mrs. Dodds lunged at me.**

**With a yelp, I dodged and felt talons slash the air next to my ear. I snatched the ballpoint pen out of the air, but when it hit my hand, it wasn't a pen anymore. It was a sword—Mr. Brunner's bronze sword, which he always used on tournament day.**

"Ohh…" Jason nodded and shrugged. "That's pretty cool." He admitted.

**Mrs. Dodds spun toward me with a murderous look in her eyes.**

**My knees were jelly. My hands were shaking so bad I almost dropped the sword.**

Ares snorted. "What a loser. Can't even hold a sword." He was quieted by a slap from Aphrodite.

**She snarled, "Die, honey!"**

Nico groaned. "Enough with the honey!" he complained.

**And she flew straight at me.**

**Absolute terror ran through my body. I did the only thing that came naturally: I swung the sword.**

"Naturally." Jason repeated and shook his head in amazement. It took weeks just for some Roman campers to be able to do that.

**The metal blade hit her shoulder and passed clean through her body as if she were made of water. Hisss!**

**Mrs. Dodds was a sand castle in a power fan. She exploded into yellow powder, vaporized on the spot, leaving nothing but the smell of sulfur and a dying screech and a chill of evil in the air, as if those two glowing red eyes were still watching me.**

**I was alone.**

**There was a ballpoint pen in my hand.**

**Mr. Brunner wasn't there. Nobody was there but me.**

"The Mist is still affecting him." Athena noted, shaking her head.

**My hands were still trembling. My lunch must've been contaminated with magic mushrooms or something.**

**Had I imagined the whole thing?**

**I went back outside.**

**It had started to rain.**

"No way, idiot." Annabeth said affectionately. Aphrodite was hit with the wave of love again and her gaze landed on Annabeth curiously. Was it her?

**Grover was sitting by the fountain, a museum map tented over his head. Nancy Bobofit was still standing there, soaked from her swim in the fountain, grumbling to her ugly friends. When she saw me, she said, "I hope Mrs. Kerr whipped your butt."**

""Who?" Poseidon frowned.

**I said, "Who?"**

Apollo snorted. "Like father like son."

**"Our teacher. Duh!"**

**I blinked. We had no teacher named Mrs. Kerr. I asked Nancy what she was talking about.**

**She just rolled her eyes and turned away.**

**I asked Grover where Mrs. Dodds was.**

**He said, "Who?"**

**But he paused first, and he wouldn't look at me, so I thought he was messing with me.**

Hermes frowned in disappointment. "Weak. I'll make Travis and Conner give him lessons on lying."

**"Not funny, man," I told him. "This is serious."**

**Thunder boomed overhead.**

Everyone looked at Zeus again and he scowled. "For the last time I don't know!"

**I saw Mr. Brunner sitting under his red umbrella, reading his book, as if he'd never moved.**

**I went over to him.**

**He looked up, a little distracted. "Ah, that would be my pen. Please bring your own writing utensil in the future, Mr. Jackson."**

**I handed Mr. Brunner his pen. I hadn't even realized I was still holding it.**

**"Sir," I said, "where's Mrs. Dodds?"**

**He spared at me blankly. "Who?"**

Hermes whistled, impressed. "Now that is impressive lying."

**"The other chaperone. Mrs. Dodds. The pre-algebra teacher."**

**He frowned and sat forward, looking mildly concerned. "Percy, there is no Mrs. Dodds on this trip. As far as I know, there has never been a Mrs. Dodds at Yancy Academy. Are you feeling all right?"**

Annabeth looked up. "That's the end."

"Oh! I want to read!" Nico reached over and grabbed the book from her and he wasted no time in beginning to read.


End file.
